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Italy whirlwind trip

April 2018 - April 2024
A whirlwind trip that combines holiday, work an interview. Exciting yet tiring with lots of travels. Read more
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  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 1

    Cinque Terra

    April 8, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After more than 48 hours of travel, I finally land in Milan at 7.30am. The 4-time a day train to Monterosso won't depart till mid day. I deposit my bag at Milano Centrale and go for a wonder around Milan. First impression - Milan is messy and feels a bit like Paris. There are armed police around the Station and gypsies are washing their hair from a Public fountain.

    I walk for about 5km and see some interesting Morden residential buildings mixes with typical European architectural ones on the city edge. Overall, Milan feels soulless and cold; a city for flight transfers.

    I squeeze my way through the packed carriage and find my seat next to a window. For the next 3 hours, I am enjoying the sceneries across Italian countryside with the train winding from villages to villages. Some of them are so run down and fill with depressing looking Italians or blacks that I feel like I am in a third world country.

    Suddenly, the right side of the train opens up to an ocean view. As understated as it rides through, I am arriving into the Cinque Terra.

    The weather is perfect when I arrive and many many tourists are crowded to get the train back to La Spitzer. The sandy grey beach is filled with Europeans who have not seen the sun for months! By the time I check-in and pick up Susanna from the station, most of them have left and we get to enjoy the quiet and peace. I even dip into the not so warm Mediterranean Sea for a quick swim - gee, my skin feels rejuvenated after being snapped cold.

    We had drinks at one of the cliff top bars and seafood dinner at one of the the waterfront restaurants. I secretly wish the forecasted rain will never come!

    I end the days with me passing out with a half written whastapp message.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 2

    Monterosso -> Vernazza -> Corniglia

    April 9, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    The forecasted rain promptly delivers. We embrace the cold and wet and are set up to do our first hike. By the time we get to the starting point, we decide to do a detour to check out the town Center. Among the winding streets, we see a sign pointing for a wine tasting 100m up the road. With nothing to loose, we walk up the slippery wet track. Suddenly, we find ourselves in a vineyard surrounding with lemon groves. We spent €25 together and tasted 5 delicious local natural wines. Most of the wines are produced for local consumption; the so-called table wine.

    By the time we finish sampling, the sky opens up and there is a rain break. We merrily start tracking up and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. Later on, an English tourist asks us how was the track going up from Monterosso to Vernazza; apparently it is not an easy one. We simply can not remember other than I am trying hard to walk slowly to keep my heart rate down!

    Australia certainly has similar tracks and views as this famous track, however, the ambient is what makes it a different. The villages are tugged between headlands or built on top of it. The ancient fortified walls and towers are visible from far away. The track we are walking on is surrounding by wineries and olive trees under the occasional beams from the sun. Europe is always so romantic!

    The weather becomes better in the evening. We are wondering Corniglia, the smallest village, and is looking for a restaurant on trip advisor. As faith would have it, we found this restaurant that is ranked number one but would have closed. We quickly put in our booking, go down to enjoy the vast sea view at sunset before settling in for a sumptuous seafood dinner! We eat the most amount of food (3 courses) and drink a bottle of wine between us. We do not reach home till 11pm!

    A wet and rainy day turns out to be a joy that is filled with all these unpredictable event! Life is good.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 3

    Riomaggiore -> Manarola -> Corniglia

    April 10, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Today does not start well in the morning with gusty rain pouring at around 7.30am in the morning. It is so cold that I can not even stay on the balcony.

    We do not mobilise till 2pm. We start tracking from the other end of Cinque Terra. Luckily, at around 4pm, the sky opens up, we decide to take advantage of the good weather and take the alternate red route. The 2.5hr detour takes us around into the forest, up thousands of steps, and gain a panorama view of the beautiful Manarola and Corniglia. Although the track is challenging, we are so happy that the sun is out. Sun in Europe is precious!

    Unlike the Spanish who are filled with passion,Italian are lazy, slow, rude, and whatever. None of the guides at the tourist information are helpful; they are actually annoyed to be exact. Their timetable is always minus 10-30min and their infrustructure are desperate for repairs. They would record an announcement for "some train doors are not operational, please make sure you locate a working ones before getting off." These doors must be out of repair for so long that it is easier to record an announcement than fixing them. A lot of Italian villages are really rundown that sometimes I feel like I am in a third world country. Perhaps they have not advanced since Roman time!    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 4

    Portovenere -> La Spezia

    April 11, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    Today is supposed to be dry but it turns out that today is the worst of all three days. The sky is grey and does not stop raining the whole day.

    We take a ferry from Monterosso to Portovenere, a port city that is supposed filled with romance and poetry. However, with the grey sky, we count ourselves lucky to visit the castle dry.

    After wondering around the small town Center, we take a bus to La Spezia. This is the main town before Cinque Terre. David Matthews is right, better staying in one of the villages than in this town which is just another Italian city.

    Suffering from the rain, shine, sweat, and cold, I catch a cold and feel so run down in the afternoon. After a 3-hour nap that is filled with shivering and cold sweat, I feel absolutely shit. Time for another long sleep to recover.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 5

    Transit day Monterosso -> Verona

    April 12, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Today is a 5-hour transit from a small village to a bigger city. Again, Italian train runs late. When we arrive in Milan, we have to run in order to get onto the fast direct train to Verona.

    My throatache is not getting better either. As soon as we arrive, we go straight to the supermarket and stock up lemon and vitamin C.

    In the evening, Barbara, Ian Meller's friend, take us to a very nice traditional Italian restaurant for dinner. Ahh, this is how I remember Verona. The service, the smile on the waiter's face, the wine glasses - everything is done so probably.

    After we finish dinner, Barbara is kind enough to take us to a panoramic view point of Verona although pouring rain. What a romantic city!    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 6

    Lake Garda- Peschiera-Lazise-Sirmione

    April 13, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today is epic and filled with classic travel stories. So hold on tight before reading on.

    We leave Mari's awful place (another story on its own) with plans to take a bus to Lake Garda after I drop my luggage at the new Air B&B. When I reach back to the central bus station, the scene is epic: I see Susanna is running towards a bus that is about to close its door, so I start running towards it too. Two Asian girls are running diagonally to a bus that is leaving the bus stop, yelling out "Wait! Wait!" is quite a scene. The bus leaves one minute earlier than schedule which we would have not anticipated. Italian public transport is always late. This Italian staff at the platform is trying to tell us that the next one will be in an hour ... "[why do you look so upset] What is your problem? It is only an hour." Mama Mia Italian - time is not important.

    This are a few things we have learnt about Italian in this trip, these are: timetable is for reference, don't use it as the German does. Italian speaks bad English, has terrible attitude, super unhelpful and very lazy. Why work hard when enough is good enough? Compared to the Spanish, who are passionate people. They may tell you something that is wrong, but that is purely out of a good heart. (Like Erika is giving me all these tips about interviewing with the Italian although Malta is not even in Italy).

    We eventually take another bus to Lazise, a beautiful town that right by the lake. We love the small town center and buy a few cheeses and a genuine Italian made leather belt for my loosen pants. We then take a scenic ferry ride back to Peschiera, the main town of Lake Garda. We have about an hour to kill before the next ferry to Sirmione.

    Shamelessly, I go into a cafe and ask for two smallest plastic coffee cups they have. Although the waitress looks suspiciously at me, she gives me the two cups. We layout the Cathay Pacific blanket (which we used previously as a beach tower in Monterosso), put out our expensive Cinque Terre wine, cheese, prosciutto, tomatoes, and start enjoying our picnic against the beautiful blue lake and alps.

    The next stop is Sirmione, a 45min ferry ride. We walk along the pleasant foreshore and soaking in the sun that we did not have from the last three days!

    Mari's place
    One of the worst air b&b place I have stay in. The host wants to charge us for luggage deposit and late check out. The bathroom is dungeon that I don't really want to go in, bed linens are worn out and a pillow that is stuffed with two cushions. Here are the laundry list of the place:

    My friend and I stayed at Mari's place in Verona for two nights. The location of the flat is very convenient with walking distance to central station and supermarket. However, the flat itself has many flaws:

    - The wifi is so slow that I can not even load the website to purchase train tickets online.
    - The towers provided are worn out and one of them has weird smell.
    - There are only two pillows in the room. When I asked for an extra pillow, the host gave me two cushions stuffed into a worn out pillow case and claimed she could not find other pillows.
    - The electrical kettle in the room is very dirty with white sediment that seems like it has been there for a very long time. We boiled the water twice with lemon and managed to get rid of some of the sediment.
    - There are only two transparent lace curtain in the room, no blackout curtain. We recommend future guests to bring their own eye masks if they don't want to be woken up by the sun at 6am.
    - I know it is a small thing, but there is no rubbish bin in the room and the heater in the room does not work either.
    - We are asked to pay extra 10 euros for depositing our luggage in the flat on the day of our check-out, which is more expensive than what the station luggage deposit service would charge. The check-out time is rigid at 10am and the host claims every delay will cost us 15 euros per hour.

    As a superhost myself, I understand Mari runs her place like a business but she definitely takes the essence out of being a friendly and helpful host on Air B&B    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 7

    Bike toue to Valpolicella

    April 14, 2018 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    When we open our eyes this morning, we see rays of sunshine filling our room - what a gorgeous day! Barbara picks us from our flat and we are set to cycle to a famous DOC region - Valpolicella.

    The 28km ride to Valpoicella is flat and along a river; I very much enjoy the journey after the tough Easter rides. Our destination is Tenuta Santa Maria which makes small batch Valpolicillo Ripesse wine. The way they describe the wine making process, Australian wine is nowhere near that kind of details and patience. The end result is mature, smooth and high quality wine that can be cellared for years to come! Although the tour is expensive (£70 pp) I had my best day and would love to do this tour again!

    We then have this amazing worker's lunch - £10 all you can eat veg and one plate of freshly cooked pasta! My eyes sparkle when I see the plates of vegg! Ahh, I don't mind to be an Italian worker at all.

    In the evening, we walk up to the panoramic point again and appreciate the beautiful sunset Verona offers us.

    Since I have the terrible throat ache, I drink lots of water. As a result, I am like an old woman who is constantly looking for toilet and lemon water!    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 8

    VinItaly Day One - Public Day

    April 15, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Phrase two of this trip kicks start today. VinItaly is the largest wine show in the world and boasts about 5,000+ exhibitors from every corner of Italy. Surely it does not live down its name; each region warrants its own Pavilion with hundreds of well decorated booths. My role is to help pouring wine at the Winestate stand inside of the International Wine Pavilion Hall D.

    There are so many wines from all over Italy, my head spins after walking around for 15min. Unlike the HK Show, which is positioned as premium and has a good representation from around the world, VinItaly is a show for every vineyard to showcase their wine to all kinds of buyers. I have met lots of sommeliers (apparently 1 out of 3 I meet today are sommeliers or on the way to become one), wine bar owners, wine consultants, restaurants looking to buy small quantity of wine. At the HK show, exhibitors at the Italian Pavilion are good representations of what each region can offer, which makes amateur like me easier to navigate around. While at VinItaly, every vineyards strike to showcase their wines and it is impossible to taste every one of the them.

    The secret of the trade is to network and via word of mouth introduction. Trade fair is just a convenient platform for buyers and sellers to meet. All the homework are done outside of the four walls. Consider wine dinner, wine education master class, network among the trades, are all good ways to build up your brand and networks.

    Another tip is to be presentable. Why would a wine consultant pick you out among thousands of other wines? Your personality and knowledge will make you shine through the crowd. Perhaps a glass before the show may help relax you into the craft of wine sales.

    Another way to see trade show is for a new comer to learn about the market, the consumer taste preferences and price elasticity of your buyers. Europeans still prefer the big bold red with strong tannin and the gripeness on the tongue. They find Australian red "interesting" with softer tannin, high alcohol (certain style), shorter finish, on a sweeter note, and easier to drink. Penfold has helped to paved the way for Australian red but more education are still needed to pave the way.

    One thing I really like about VinItaly is that they provide unlimited glass washing service. I can use a fresh glass every time I pour a new wine. Nothing is worse than tasting a wine with the last one lingering at the bottom of my glass.

    One thing I don't like about Vinitaly is the organiser does not provide water. I drank half 50ml bottle for the whole day and not bother to buy one because the queue at the bar area is always super long.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 9

    VinItaly Day Two

    April 16, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We start the day nice and early. But it is overall very quiet until around 11.30pm. Most of the people come to our stands are sommeliers or studying towards to becoming one. Overall, there is no real trade buyer. Well, Italy is such a large wine producing country, people who will buy international wines would be those from high end restaurants or luxury hotels. Even when they buy, they will probably buy 20 cases at a time which not worth the time for most Australian wineries. No busienss to be made at VinItaly. Better of inviting sommeliers from top range restaurants on a gastronomical tour to Australia like what Wine Australia does occasionally.

    Another reason VinItaly is so crowded because every mum and pop vineyard would have a stand at the Show. A lot of the chateau is only about 40 acre and they use a lot of space to store barrels and bottles. They won't let any bottles that are less than 2 years old out of the door. Quality over quantity is their principle.

    On the other hand, due to geographic distance, Italian hardly taste Australian wine. A lot of them tell me this is their first time to taste Australian wine. They find our wine very "interesting" ... Australian wines are generally younger, white would be on the sweeter side and the red would have softer tannin and more red fruit flavour. They love our Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz / Syrah.

    An interesting incident this morning is an Italian grandmother took her grandchildren, all look like under 18yr, to the show. The oldest one who look like 16yr orders to taste different wines. Towards the end, even the 8yr old starts to drink. OMG, the look on Kevin's (the owner who does the pouring) face worth a photo!

    At the end of the day, Alessabdra and I go over to the food hall and get some complimentary white truffle / Tartuffe and biscuit and start drinking Riesling. Australian are a rowdy yet fun bunch of people.

    Learning:
    McLaren Vale style - old vine, hot climate, high alcohol (i.e. less acidity)

    Italian wine - generally high acidity due to colder climate    Read more

  • TravelerItaly whirlwind trip
    Day 10

    VinItaly Day Three

    April 17, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I kick off the day with noble rot tasting - Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trokenbeerenauselese. Although the class is conducted in German with translation to Italian, Joyce from Fishbone joins me for the class so we had fun tasting and joking about the sommeliers.

    After the class, I go to meet with Peter Muscet's Italian friend Federico. It is so much easier to navigate the maze of Italian regions with a guide. We taste some top wines from Italian premium regions and I have learnt a bit more about terriors and wine making techniques from different regions.

    There are 600-700 different varieties in Italy. Even if the grapes are the same genetically, because of the region they grow, the taste is completely different. I feel for the sommeliers who have to study Italian wines for two years before moving onto the new world.

    Towards the end of the day, we start bartering Australian wine for all sorts of things - Pisco sour, craft beer, gin tonic, truffle, olives, biscuit, salami. Australian wine is like the new type of crypto currency that is popular and highly valued everywhere. We are planning tomorrow afternoon, we will start going around with a box of Australian wine and barter for everything and anything.

    Learnings:

    Like previously mentioned, lots of Italian wineries are family own. A few generations later, children from these families split the property into smaller and smaller patch. Today, most wineries are around 20 - 40 acres and some family members own perhaps 10 vines and make a label out of it.

    The Italian spend lots of efforts into making good wines which are not always commercially viable. For example, entry level wines starting from £5 ex cellar whole sale, mid level / blend (normally would have been oaked for 2 years) starting from £10, premium starting from £40+. A lot of overseas buyers are looking for entry level wine that tastes like premium wine to present back to their bosses.

    Some of the Italian wineries are so small that they have to host private wine dinners, wine education, tour to the property for perspective buyers to get a feel of the wine, to fall in love with the wine, to "have wine on the lips" [something like "bum on the seat."

    The way the trade works here is that a big wine retailer would have hired a number of trusted wine consultants (the prawns) to visit mega wine fairs like VinItaly to look for the gems. These consultants would go back with a few options and the head Buyer of this big retailer will balance the price and the taste with consumer demands to choose which wines to import. Same principle applies to premium hotels, wine bars, and restaurants. Another bonus point is, using words by Jason, head wine buyer from Aldi, "medals are extremely important."

    Because of the history and the beautiful renaissance chateau on the property, lots of this wineries venture into functions - weddings, corporate events, etc. to make ends meet. On the other hand, owners of these chateaus (children of the wine family) would have a full time job somewhere else to supplement this money loosing passion project.    Read more

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